Here’s how freelance entertainment workers can apply for FDCP’s DEAR Action program

Rappler.com

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Here’s how freelance entertainment workers can apply for FDCP’s DEAR Action program

Rob Reyes

The program is the FDCP's assistance to workers in the audio-visual sector who have suddenly found themselves unemployed due to a catastrophe

MANILA, Philippines – The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) announced that they will provide assistance to displaced entertainment workers in the audio-visual sector.

FDCP chairperson Liza Diño-Seguerra announced on March 23 that they’ve activated the Disaster Emergency Assistance and Relief or DEAR Action program for workers affected by the Luzon-wide lockdown and coronavirus scare.

The DEAR program under FDCP is defined as “disaster-triggered funding mechanism of the Film Development Council of the Philippines that provides financial assistance to its stakeholders and is activated as a direct result of a major natural disaster.” The program can be activated when the President declares a catastrophe. 

The Dear Action program is opened to workers in the audio-visual sector that have suddenly become unemployed for 5 days as a result of a major disaster and are not eligble for other government-instituted benefits. 

A flat rate of P8,000 will be given as financial assistance to applicants who will be approved by the FDCP. The cash aims to help the workers with their expenses.

“The FDCP DEAR Program is not a one-off initiative. Though this was inspired by the COVID-19 crisis, we want to learn from this and make sure that the agency is better prepared in handling such cases in the future. As a permanent program of the FDCP, this disaster fund will be activated every time there is an emergency and a State of Calamity declared by the President,” Diño-Seguerra said.

In order to qualify for the program, interest applicants must check the following:

  • The individual must have had at least five (5) work days of loss of employment or engagement during the declared dates of the major disaster.
  • The individual’s engagement or self-employment must have been lost or interrupted as a direct result of a major disaster as declared by the President of the Republic of the Philippines.
  • The individual must have been determined not otherwise eligible for regular unemployment insurance benefits under any Local or National Law such as from SSS, DOLE, LGU, or from his/her own employer and similar agencies.
  • The individual must prove that he/she is of low income and receives around P20,000 or less a month, has a package rate of P20,000 or less per project, or whose talent fee is around P3,000 or less per day.

For those who found themselves suddenly out of work, they must contact FDCP’s National Registry. Applications should then should be submitted within 30 days after the announcement. In exchange, the FDCP is asking those who availed of the program to render service to at least two sponsored FDCP events. 

For details and requirements, you may check the FBCP website. 

The entertainment sector has suspended work in the film and TV divisions after President Rodrigo Duterte announced that Metro Manila would be placed under a lockdown for one month. The lockdown was then extended to the entire Luzon island. – Rappler.com

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